Q&A: The Franks That Made Brooklyn Delicious

Back before chefs colonized Brooklyn, Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo opened up a little place called Frankies Spuntino on Court Street in Carroll Gardens. They served simple, delicious food in the relaxed setting that has made them two of the city's most beloved chefs. This week, the French group Le Fooding is holding its annual New York event in Brooklyn for the first time. The Franks are co-hosting a dinner with James Beard Award-winning Southern chef Sean Brock. As they prepared, we talked to them about their borough, what's exciting them these days, and how to make amazing French toast.

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ESQUIRE.COM: Looking forward to Le Fooding?

FRANK CASTRONOVO: The food's going to be amazing. We're matched up with Sean Brock, which we're ultra-excited about.

ESQ: Right, he's your "alter-ego."

FC: It's the 21-gun salute. They didn't name that event right. Because do you know what the 21-gun salute is? You put down your arms and you have a peace agreement for a period of time.

FC: We got some nice local items from the ocean, and he's got some funky stuff from the South. Gonna do some smoky pork and —

FF: Ben's bacon.

FC: We're doing the Champagne toast. Sabrage. You know, the Champagne bottle. Have you done that before?

FF: You chop it off.

FC: And voila.

ESQ: Why do you think Le Fooding is going to Brooklyn?

FC: It's the hottest place on the planet.

FF: You have a lot of space and you have a lot of talent out here now, so you can actually hang your hat on it, you know? Whereas ten years ago, you probably couldn't have.

FC: Because you can't ignore it. There's actually — I've heard a saying. This is from true Parisians — and you know, for Parisians to make a saying, it means a lot. So they say, "C'est très Brooklyn."

ESQ: What do they mean by that?<?p>

FF: Has that feel.

ESQ: How did you end up opening Frankies in Brooklyn?

FC: We just came here to do business. We put up shop eight years ago. And we started to do what we wanted to do, and we didn't feel the pressure. We were kind of under the radar. We didn't have to please anybody but ourselves and make a little bit of money. It worked out really well.

ESQ: What are you getting excited about right now?

FC: We got good things coming down the pipe, but we can't talk about it.

FC: Yeah, new space out in Red Hook that we've been working on for a year. We're Frankin' it.

ESQ: You do your own renovations, right?

FF: We have, unfortunately. It's cool when you can point your finger and something shows up, but it doesn't work like that. You actually got to go — he went and got a tub today.

FC: I spent the whole day riding my bicycle all around the city. I got to sweat out the —

FF: The party fun.

ESQ: What have you been cooking?

FF: At Prime Meats, we're pretty much ready to unveil a whole sausage program that we're doing all in-house. All of our emulsified sausages. The hot dog, the duck hot dog. The dry-aged bratwurst.

ESQ: You come up with recipes for the sausages?

FF: Actually, we have a charcuterie dude who we've been working with for over twenty years now.

FC: It's like pizza. You gotta have a pizza man. You need a sausage man.

ESQ: Sorry, I need to ask about your French toast. Who came up with the idea to caramelize powdered sugar on the outside? That makes it so crispy and delicious.

FC: He came up with the caramelization of the sugar. It's definitely one of those things where we both had pretty amazing French toast recipes and —